Vista Built-in Diagnostics: Hard disk

I came across this webpage
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc507843.aspx#E4B
and im curious about the built-in diag with regards to a failing hard disk.

A friend of mine told me that her vista notified her about vista nforming her that her hard disk, which the OS was installed , was going to crash. She managed to save all her work and data with the help of a computer shop.

I asked her much about it, she couldn't explain much to me as she isn't very IT-savvy.

My Issue: i have an external hard disk 3.5''. Would this diagnostic in Vista detect an oncoming failure in my external hdd? How can i access to check it's current health?

Hope the brothers here can enlighten me. Thank you

facade

 

In your friend's case, it may have just encountered a problem and then let her know about it.

But one thing you can do to proactively check your drives is double-click Computer > right-click the drive in question > Properties > Tools tab > Error checking: Check now.

The free program HD Tune also offers an Error Scan tab where you can scan for errors.

 

Hi swarmer, thank you for the swift reply.

I have already done that. And the results showed that it is okay. So is it alright to assume that my hdd is still going strong? it's been 3 yrs old. probably a few months after the warranty.

Is error checking sufficient to determine the health? i know of HD tune and have used that too. Just wanted to know if it will suffice.

 

Well you're already doing a lot more than most people do.

As long as you aren't seeing any indication that something's wrong, I'd say you're fine. BUT... back up your important files frequently, of course, because problems can occur out of the blue.